Sound On

More often than I’d like to admit, I buy stuff more because of how it looks than how well it works. I can’t help it, though I know the functionality should be part and parcel of the appearance of any well-designed thing. (Remind me to tell you sometime about my gorgeous sofa that dresses up the living room and is a heinous mockery of sitting in comfort.) But here we’re talking about headphones.

Someone I adore gave me the gorgeous Bang and Olufsen model at left; exquisitely designed, but too big for my ears. Stubbornly I wore them, despite discomfort and compromised sound quality due to poor fit. A friend recommended the BeatsbyDre at center: very cool looking, great sound quality, but more than I was willing to spend, though I’m sure worth it. Wasn’t sure I could effectively rock the hip hop DJ look so well, either, to be honest. In the end I got the Grado Labs headphones at right. You know what? I think they’re ugly, and the cord is way too thick and cumbersome. Know what else? They sound amazing, they’re reasonably priced, and the company headquarters is right here in Brooklyn. Besides the buy local bonus, I think I’m learning: function can trump form.

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This entry was posted on March 22, 2009 at 1:16 pm and is filed under Objects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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